UK Parliament / Open data

Local Government Bill [Lords]

Debate on bills on Thursday, 21 October 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Pickles. The answering member was Caroline Flint.
Local Government Bill (HL). Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion on proceedings in Committee, on Report, Third reading and any other proceedings, agreed to on question.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

516 c1153-92 

Session

2010-12

Department

Department for Communities and Local Government

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Programme motions

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Local Government Bill (HL). Brought from the Lords. Explanatory Notes Bill 75-EN also published.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Robert Neill | 516 c1191 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, who has lived in and around the county pretty much all his life, makes a very well-f...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1191 (Link to this contribution) On a very important point, I failed to catch the eye of the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Willi...

Show all contributions (104)
Robert Neill | 516 c1190-1 (Link to this contribution) Because they had not realised the extent to which an incoming Conservative Government would encourag...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1190 (Link to this contribution) Why, then, did all the business organisations in Exeter, which also reach outside Exeter, support th...
Robert Neill | 516 c1192 (Link to this contribution) There is sometimes an argument for quitting while in front, but the truth is that the hon. Gentleman...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1192 (Link to this contribution) If the Government were not increasing rail fares by the retail prices index plus 3%, I would be deli...
Robert Neill | 516 c1190 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that they were wrong, but although I am always interested in history, I am not a pris...
Robert Neill | 516 c1190 (Link to this contribution) Of course; we have all the time in the world.
Chris Williamson | 516 c1190 (Link to this contribution) I know we have. I wanted to give the Minister another chance to answer the question. Were the Conser...
Robert Neill | 516 c1189 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely right. I have known the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) for a lon...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1190 (Link to this contribution) If structures are so bad, were the Conservative Government wrong to create so many unitary authoriti...
Robert Neill | 516 c1190 (Link to this contribution) From listening to the hon. Gentleman, I got the impression that unitaries would have become compulso...
Robert Neill | 516 c1188 (Link to this contribution) As I hope I can demonstrate to my hon. Friend in a moment, what caused the previous Government's pla...
Robert Neill | 516 c1188-9 (Link to this contribution) It was pretty much in extra time, with the referee about to blow the whistle. Then there came the ne...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1189 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for being gracious enough to find time to give way, unlike the Opposition Fro...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1188 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) said that the public wanted those unitaries. I ca...
Robert Neill | 516 c1187-8 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I should start by congratulating my opposite number, the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris ...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1186 (Link to this contribution) No I will not give way; I am sorry, but I want to make some progress. [Interruption.] Will hon. Memb...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1186 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chris Williamson | 516 c1185-6 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the House would love to listen to me speak for the next four hours, but I will not ca...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1186 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way.
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman just referred to the amount of time he ha...
Speaker | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) This debate would have to finish at 6 pm, but it is always up to each and every individual Member wh...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to give way to too many more Members, because I am conscious of the time. I will be to...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Broadland wanted to intervene and I give way to him.
Keith Simpson | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) I am thoroughly enjoying listening to the hon. Gentleman's speech and looking at the expression on t...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman wants to fight the battles of yesteryear. A number of changes occurred, not the l...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1185 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chris Williamson | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) I have taken a few interventions. I want to make some progress. The other important fact that the G...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chris Williamson | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a little more progress and deal with another point that the hon. Gentleman made. I wi...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious of the time available, but I give way.
Lord Pickles | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) I think we have a little bit of time, with your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was wondering about...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1183 (Link to this contribution) In my experience, and from the anecdotal information that I have heard from Conservative colleagues,...
Lord Pickles | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chris Williamson | 516 c1184 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is really scraping the barrel. If that is the best he can come up with, it de...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1182 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman refers to cross-party support in Norwich, but for clarification I must note that ...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1183 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is not listening to me. I did not say that that was the sole determining factor a...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1183 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Conservative councillors in Norwich, who after all represent only the fourth party on th...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1182-3 (Link to this contribution) The members from the hon. Gentleman's party in Norwich were pretty irrelevant, actually, to—[Hon. Me...
Robert Neill | 516 c1183 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman regards the issue of party support and the views of councillors as the sole de...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1155 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State clarify for the House his understanding of the implications of the Bill?...
Lord Pickles | 516 c1153-5 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. It was not possible in Question Time to add...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1161-3 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by saying that I warmly support the proposal made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1163-4 (Link to this contribution) For a Government who claim to want to give more power to local communities and to devolve decision m...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1164-5 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman refers to the failure of alternative bids—for example, from Norfolk. There ...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1168 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady seems to be making my point for me, which is that Exeter and Norwich have been the mil...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1168-9 (Link to this contribution) This is a rather strange debate. We are discussing a Bill with which it appears to be unnecessary to...
Gordon Birtwistle | 516 c1165 (Link to this contribution) I should like to refer the right hon. Gentleman to the bids in 2006, when Burnley and Pendle put in ...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1165 (Link to this contribution) That might well be the case, but my point is that it would have been perfectly open to either Norfol...
Anne Marie Morris | 516 c1167-8 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) for his contribution. I hear what he is sayin...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1165-7 (Link to this contribution) You will have to forgive me, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I am not an expert on the local situation in Bur...
Lord Pickles | 516 c1155 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the right hon. Gentleman is an assiduous reader of the specialist press. I recall seeing a...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1155 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has not answered my question on the impact of the Bill.
Caroline Flint | 516 c1159-61 (Link to this contribution) As I have outlined, and as is clear from the impact assessment provided by the Department, the most ...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1158-9 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady has mentioned what she called the small cost of the transition and the savings o...
Caroline Flint | 516 c1158 (Link to this contribution) I wish to make some progress and I hope to deal further with some of the points that the hon. Gentle...
Caroline Flint | 516 c1158 (Link to this contribution) The criteria were set up by the Labour Government as guidelines to inform the Secretary of State whe...
George Hollingbery | 516 c1158 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Lady remind me who set up the rules and regulations under which this process made...
Caroline Flint | 516 c1156-8 (Link to this contribution) I am looking forward to a number of exchanges with the Secretary of State across the Dispatch Box in...
Lord Pickles | 516 c1155-6 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry if levity got in the way of my answer, but I shall give the same basic answer now. The Bi...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) It may help if it is explained to Members that the Norwich North constituency straddles both Norwich...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give me an example, either orally or in written evidence, in this place of t...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) Let me explain the flaw in these arguments. What I am about to say does not necessarily apply to Exe...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1172 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has neglected to listen carefully to the points made so far in this debate, and t...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1175-6 (Link to this contribution) In cases such as this one, it is important that we come back to first principles, and those first pr...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1173-5 (Link to this contribution) I fully support the Secretary of State's comments when he referred to this whole debacle as a horror...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1173 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes an important point. Indeed, the counties do better in many ways, because ...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1172-3 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend also accept that the fact that Southampton's unitary status was restored in no w...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1171 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my right hon. Friend first.
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1171 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can help my hon. Friend here. The city council in Exeter commissioned an independent MORI ...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1172 (Link to this contribution) I shall now give way to the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis).
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1172 (Link to this contribution) I defer to the right hon. Gentleman's expertise on the polling in Exeter, but the comments made by t...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1169-71 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, but my figures are from the explanatory memorandums to two stat...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1169 (Link to this contribution) This is not the hon. Gentleman's fault, but I do not think that he participated in any of the earlie...
Alan Whitehead | 516 c1171 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will recall hearing earlier this afternoon about the results of various polls con...
Keith Simpson | 516 c1171 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman give the House the factual evidence for that view? What polling has been done...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) There is, of course, a variety of opinion in the area that will be affected by the changes. The Secr...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way again?
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) Of course; I am feeling very polite.
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) I will leave the hon. Gentleman alone after this intervention, if I possibly can. He makes the point...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) That last comment is interesting, but I wanted to say that I was actually out on the streets in Norw...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) May I first explain that my point is that if we want to draw conclusions from election results, ther...
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) As I said, it was the area that is entirely affected by the topic of this debate—Norfolk—which also ...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will say what area was covered by that poll?
Brandon Lewis | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) Much as I am enjoying this conversation with the hon. Gentleman, I should point out again that he cl...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1181 (Link to this contribution) In which case, why did the hon. Gentleman support unitary status? Was he reflecting the views of his...
Simon Wright | 516 c1181 (Link to this contribution) It would have made absolutely no difference, because during the election campaign not a single perso...
Ben Bradshaw | 516 c1181 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that he would have won his seat if he had opposed Norwich's unitary st...
Simon Wright | 516 c1180 (Link to this contribution) It seems that my contribution to this debate has been widely trailed by Opposition Members. I thank ...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1182 (Link to this contribution) Our very clear view is that the Bill is misguided and should never have come before the House. We he...
Simon Wright | 516 c1181-2 (Link to this contribution) I expressed my views because, when one gets a call from the local newspaper, it is a good idea to an...
James Morris | 516 c1179-80 (Link to this contribution) I represent a constituency in the west midlands, which is some distance from my hon. Friends in Norw...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1177-9 (Link to this contribution) Well, we are in the era of the new politics. I am genuinely looking forward to hearing the comments ...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1177 (Link to this contribution) I draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to the comments of both the former and the current Norwich Sou...
Chris Williamson | 516 c1186-7 (Link to this contribution) No; I am going to carry on. [Interruption.] Hon. Members should calm down for a moment. My hon. Fri...
Anne Marie Morris | 516 c1168 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that. They have not been milch cows. I do not deny that Exeter is an important part ...
Gavin Shuker | 516 c1176 (Link to this contribution) Dr Gibson is no longer a Member of this House so I do not see the relevance of the question. I can, ...

Subjects

Costs
Devon
Exeter
Local government
Norfolk
Norwich
Reorganisation
Unitary councils
Suffolk

Legislation

Local Government Bill (HL) 2010-12

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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